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A low-key race for state treasurer is heating up with allegations of corruption and cronyism
fired off by both campaigns.

The fiercest accusations have been directed at Democratic Treasurer Kevin L. Boyce by his
Republican challenger, state Rep. Josh Mandel of Lyndhurst.

In a press release and on his campaign website (http://joshmandel.com/home), Mandel has
accused Boyce of "cronyism and corruption" because he awarded a low-bid state investment contract
to a Boston firm whose lobbyist is a friend of Amer Ahmad, deputy treasurer and chief financial
officer in Boyce's office.

Noure Alo, a Columbus attorney specializing in immigration, was hired as a lobbyist by State
Street Corp. about a week after the firm submitted what was later determined to be the winning bid
for a state contract to invest $32 million in Ohio pension funds.

State Street is under investigation in California for possible fraud involving $56 million in
state pension funds there. The California state treasurer calls the company "crooks."

Further complicating matters, Boyce's office hired Alo's wife, Walaa Waeda, to work as a
receptionist. She was the only candidate interviewed after Ahmad spread word at the mosque he
attends.

Boyce's office disputed Mandel's charges, arguing that Alo had no influence over the state
contract and that the hiring of his wife was completely unrelated.

This week, the Ohio Democratic Party launched a counterattack, charging that Mandel for the
second time accepted "shady cash" from an official with a company that lost $335 million in Florida
pension funds and got hit with a $250 million fine from the Securities and Exchange Commission.

"It's despicable that Josh continues to cash in from the types of Wall Street fat cats whose
greed led to the global recession and devastated our families on Main Street," said Democratic
spokesman Seth Bringman. "A candidate for state treasurer should know better than to continue to
take money from crooks like these."

Boyce's campaign website (http://www.kevinboyce.com) contains none of
the accusations against Mandel regarding his acceptance of $13,300 in several contributions from
Robert Hertog of Alliance Capital Management. Alliance was placed on some investor "watch lists" as
early as 2003.

Mandel, who is Jewish, made several critical comments referring to the fact that Ahmad and Alo
and his wife attend the same Islamic mosque.

"We deserve public officials who use tax dollars to hire people because they are qualified - not
because they belong to their comrade's Mosque," Mandel said on his website.

Mandel previously accused Boyce of cronyism because he hired relatives of city officials in
Cincinnati and Toledo and a former state cabinet director.